Chapter 98: To Solve a Grand Case, One Must Conduct a Grand Purge

Who has the strongest lightness skill in The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng?

Lu Xiaofeng.

It depends on the circumstances, but it should be Lu Xiaofeng.

It should be Lu Xiaofeng, but if you include Chu Liuxiang, the result might be different.

Gu Qing watched Lu Xiaofeng’s figure move skillfully, leaping and dodging within the Pingnan Prince’s mansion, stealthily lurking—he himself felt Lu Xiaofeng’s lightness skill was truly unparalleled; in today’s world, apart from Gu Qing, only the reclusive Chu Liuxiang could surpass him.

With Gu Qing’s meddling, Lu Xiaofeng naturally would not leave Gu Qing and Xue Bing with the Snake King; thus, as Lu Xiaofeng infiltrated the Pingnan Prince’s mansion, Gu Qing and Xue Bing perched on a tree outside, peering inside.

The Pingnan Prince’s treasure vault was impenetrable; Lu Xiaofeng reached the roof, lifted the tiles, and saw three layers of iron nets inside—he realized the vault could not be stolen by force. As he turned to leave, he encountered Ye Gucheng.

The heir of the Pingnan Prince’s mansion is Ye Gucheng’s disciple.

This White Cloud City Lord, with his white robes and faint beard, held a precious sword and unleashed a brilliant, dazzling flash of swordlight that crushed down upon Lu Xiaofeng!

Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens!

Brilliant and swift, like a celestial deity wielding divine law, the swordlight surged like a thunderbolt splitting the sky!

Lu Xiaofeng shifted his position repeatedly, but could not match the speed of this strike—it reached him in an instant!

“Hit!”

In that moment of no retreat, no evasion, Lu Xiaofeng’s Spirit-Rhyme Finger moved with uncanny precision—two fingers pinched and caught the very tip of Ye Gucheng’s sword.

“White Cloud City Lord.”

Lu Xiaofeng called out Ye Gucheng’s name; they spoke, and only then did they learn that Ye Gucheng had been certain Lu Xiaofeng would come to spy on the Pingnan Prince’s mansion, so he waited here specifically to offer Lu Xiaofeng a single strike of Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens.

“Four months ago, Mu Daoren saw my sword and declared it peerless under heaven.”

Ye Gucheng suddenly said.

“It is peerless under heaven.”

Lu Xiaofeng nodded.

“Then, how does my sword compare to Gu Qing’s?”

Ye Gucheng asked again; he had heard of Gu Qing’s feat of sealing the Ancient Pine Hermit with a single sword.

Lu Xiaofeng carefully evaluated and said: “Gu Qing’s martial arts are exceedingly broad, especially his ability to wield two different sets simultaneously with each hand—as if one man fights two. If he were to face you purely with swordplay, your sword is sharper.”

Though Gu Qing’s knowledge is vast, it ultimately cannot match the purity of Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuixue.

Ye Gucheng frowned slightly and said: “So you mean, to compete with Gu Qing, he must let one hand be tied?”

Lu Xiaofeng immediately fell silent—he never said that!

But if Gu Qing used his Spirit-Rhyme Finger to catch Ye Gucheng’s sword with his left hand and struck with his right, he could indeed defeat Ye Gucheng.

At that moment, Jin Jiuling and Hua Manlou, who had been watching from the sidelines, finally stepped forward; beside Hua Manlou walked a gentle young maiden—Lu Xiaofeng recognized her face: it was Shi Xiuxue of Emei Sect.

“Huh?”

Lu Xiaofeng looked from Hua Manlou to Shi Xiuxue of Emei, bewildered—why did Hua Manlou now have a female companion? And why was Shi Xiuxue, one of Emei’s Three Heroes and Four Fair Maidens, beside him?

“It’s a long story.”

Hua Manlou said gently: “In short, it was love at first sight.”

Shi Xiuxue of Emei fell in love the moment she saw Hua Manlou, asked him to touch her face and remember her features, then chance met him again—and they became a pair.

His brother was in love, and Lu Xiaofeng was happy—but his brother had been watching his show, and Lu Xiaofeng disliked that.

“You knew all along there was a peerless sword waiting for me here, yet you just stood by and watched?”

Lu Xiaofeng grumbled.

Jin Jiuling said: “We knew you’d come, because you had to test whether anyone could enter the vault. Before you arrived, we already reached a conclusion: if Lu Xiaofeng cannot enter, then no one in the world can!”

All present accepted this conclusion.

“Then how did the Embroidery Bandit get in?”

Gu Qing’s voice drifted from afar—he spoke the first word outside the mansion, and by the last word, he had already arrived before them.

Ye Gucheng and Jin Jiuling stared at Gu Qing, astonished by his lightness skill, and even more curious how he could hear their conversation from such a distance; Jin Jiuling, guilty at heart, momentarily wondered: “Could it be that the world truly possesses the divine ability of Heaven’s Sight, Earth’s Hearing?”

Lu Xiaofeng scowled—he knew the truth: Gu Qing had clearly slipped nearby earlier, then returned with Xue Bing once more.

“So I reached a conclusion!”

Gu Qing looked at Ye Gucheng and said: “There is a traitor inside the Pingnan Prince’s mansion—and it’s a gang operation. The Embroidery Bandit story sounds absurd; upon closer thought, it’s no different from ‘Ghost Soldiers Borrowing Grain’ or ‘Fire Dragon Burning the Granary.’”

Ye Gucheng was also stunned by Gu Qing’s inner energy ability, unable to fathom how he heard their conversation from afar—but upon hearing Gu Qing’s claim of a traitor within the mansion, he immediately grew serious.

Jin Jiuling is a volume-one boss.

Ye Gucheng is also a volume-one boss.

Jin Jiuling seeks wealth and the perfect crime, but Ye Gucheng’s goal is regicide and overthrowing the court; the Pingnan Prince’s mansion has long harbored ambitions, and now a traitor lurks nearby—Ye Gucheng cannot afford hesitation!

Recall that in the volume “Before and After the Duel,” Ye Gucheng killed Auntie Gongsun and others because they “might” know the Pingnan Prince’s plot.

A single “might” was enough for Ye Gucheng to sentence them to death.

“You mean there is a traitor inside the Pingnan Prince’s mansion?”

Ye Gucheng said coldly.

“Correct!”

Gu Qing nodded: “This traitor is no minor figure. Rather than chasing the mystery of the Embroidery Bandit, we should carefully examine the testimonies within the mansion—determine which parts are true, which are false.”

“Since the Embroidery Bandit committed such a grand crime, the Pingnan Prince’s mansion must now conduct a grand purge!”

This was Gu Qing’s suggestion.

Jin Jiuling, about to speak, suddenly felt icy cold all over—he turned his head and saw Ye Gucheng’s lethal aura.

“It seems we’ve been blinded by the Embroidery Bandit.”

Ye Gucheng spoke coldly: “We ignored the problems within the Pingnan Prince’s mansion.”

Ye Gucheng was the master of the Pingnan Prince’s heir and the core figure behind the planned regicide—he held immense authority within the mansion. Hearing Gu Qing’s possibility, and recalling that even Lu Xiaofeng could not enter the vault, he said: “Indeed—to solve a grand case, one must conduct a grand purge!”

“Exactly!”

Gu Qing said: “First, bring everyone in the mansion in for interrogation—let them know the people’s heart is iron, the law is a furnace!”

In ancient times, investigations had no such emphasis on evidence; when a murder occurred, all neighbors were arrested and interrogated, beaten with bamboo rods.

Gu Qing looked at Jin Jiuling—the Embroidery Bandit was a gang operation, and Jin Jiuling, as the mastermind, must be the most panicked.

(End of Chapter)